Knitted undergarment



Jan. 19, 1960 A. M. EVANS KNITTED UNDERGARMENT Filed Jan. 26, 1956United States Patent G KNI'ITED UNDERG ARMENT Aubrey M. Evans,Barneveld, N.Y., assiguor to Duofold Inc., Mohawk, N.Y., a corporationof New York Application January 26, 1956, Serial No. 561,596

Claims. (Cl. 66176) This invention relates to a knitted undergarment andmore particularly to an undergarment having two independent layers ofknitted fabric interlocked only at spaced wales. Such a two-layer fabricis found in the U.S. patent to Bellis No. 709,734, dated September 23,1902. Fabrics of the Bellis type have been on the market continuouslysince that date and have established a reputation for warmth. However,the demand has been for even greater warmth without making the garmentmore clumsy and without any sacrifice of the ability of the garment tostretch. Attempts have been made to change two-layer knitted garments togive additional warmth but heretofore these have resulted in reducedextensibility and reduced flexibility. The present invention provides asimple way of altering the old Bellis fabric to give greater warmthwithout changing the other qualities of the garment. My garment ischaracterized by the formation of defined air pockets over areas of thegarment, the pockets being defined by spaced laid-in bulky stretchableyarn forming the coursewise sides of the air pockets and holding the twoknitted fabrics apart, while the interlock points of the fabric form thewalewise sides of the pockets and draw the layers together at thosewales. The resultant deep air pockets give greater warmth and do notinterfere with the flexing and stretching of the garment.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a simplified view of an undershirt turned inside out, madeaccording to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale of a few of the airpockets of the garment of Fig. 1, theenlarged portion being marked onFig. 1 with the reference numeral 2.

Fig. 3 is a view in vertical section through a wale of the portion ofthe garment shown in Fig. 2, taken on the line 3-3 of that figure.

Fig. 4 is a diagram of the stitches and laid-in yarn ineluding oneinterlocked stitch of the portion of the garment of Fig. 2, the garmentbeing shown completely relaxed.

Fig. 5 is another diagram of the stitches and yarn of Fig. 4 showing howthe knitted layers and yarn can expand equally.

Fig. 6 is a diagram of a few of the stitches of Fig. l with the wales ofthe back layer oifset to one side to make the interlooping of the yarnsclearer.

The type of two-layer weft knit fabric of the Bellis patent, knowncommercially as Duofold two-layer fabric, has two complete independentwebs or layers 7, 8, as shown in Fig. 6, the inner layer 7 generallybeing made of cotton, for comfort, and the outer layer 8 of wool or ablend of wool and other fibers, for warmth.

As stated, the two webs are each complete and are independent of eachother. They are connected, i.e. interlocked, only at spaced wales andcourses. The interlock connections or points are formed by yarn of theknitted fabric from either one or both layers. In the example shown inthe drawings there are interlocking stitches 9 from the inner layer 7 ofthe fabric extending across to the outer layer 8 and knocked over incompany with the stitches 10 of the outer layer. This is the type ofinterlock shown in Fig. 6. It produces small holes 11 in the inner layerof the garment, as indicated by the dots in Fig. 1.

These stitches have a tendency to drawthe two layers together or atleast to limit the extent to which the layers can separate at the pointswhere the interlock stitches 9 are present. It has'been found that whentwo or more of the stitches 9 are present in the same wale of the fabricand they are not too many courses apart, the two layers of fabric in thewale-where these stitches are present tend to stay closer togetherthan'wales Where the stitches 9 are not present. I do not find thistendency in the fabric where interlock stitches are present in the samecourse rather than the same wale.

It has been proven conclusively that locking an air space next to thebody is conducive to much greater warmth than that obtained fromtheordinary type of garment. This has been known for a long time. Thepresent invention takes advantage of the above-mentioned interlockstitch phenomenon found in wales but not courses, to producewell-defined air pockets over the whole garment.

It can be seen in Fig. 1 that the space between the tying or interlockstitches in the walewise direction is less than in the coursewisedirection. One suitable spacing is. to place an interlock stitch everyeighth course and only every twelfth wale. In the body of the garmentthe two layers are therefore normally tied together only every eightcourses vertically and every twelve wales horizontally.

The two-layer garment heretofore known with the in-' any air space whichexisted in the fabric when dormant will be collapsed or destroyedbecausethe two layers come together. Furthermore there is no restriction atall,

against the air moving in a walewise direction. Thus, there are nodefined air pockets in the prior art garments.

The present invention provides air barriers in the coursewise directionseparating the two fabric layers at spaced intervals. This is done bylaying in bulky stretchable yarn 12 in the coursewise direction betweenthe two layers at spaced intervals only. The spacing is shown as equalto the spacing in a wale of the points of interlock stitches 9 betweenthe two layers of knitted fabrics. Two strands can be laid in together,but preferably one strand between each two courses containinginterlocking loops or stitches. The barriers are shown widely spaced.The air space between one air barrier and the next is preferably muchlarger than a barrier itself. The laid-in yarn should be fairly large inorder to keep the two layers of fabric properly wedged apart when thegarment is stretched coursewise (horizontally). In the drawings it isslightly larger in diameter than an interlock stitch 9. It must also bestretchable to an extent which does not limit the extensibility of thegarment. This is necessary because the garment must be stretched to beput on. Preferably the laid-in yarn plays no significant part, i.e.causes no significant change in the elasticity of the garment. I havefound that Helanca crimped nylon yarn has the proper bulk andstretchability, but many other bulky yarns with good stretchability willgive the desired result. The yarn could be a natural or synthetic yarn,rubber or non-rubber, provided it has bulk and stretches sufficientlywithout high tension. Preferably it should not contract the garment whenthe latter is dormant, i.e. not being worn. As shown by Figs. 4 and 5,the laid-in yarn and the knitted layers expand and contract together.

The laid-in yarntpreferably does not contract. the fabric.

further than the fabriclwould contract without it..

As shownin the preferredembodiment of the drawings,

oblong structures which serve as defined air pockets of good depth (seeFig. 2). With this structure the air pockets are not wiped out when thegarment is stretched on the body. The top-and bottom of each pocket arethe air barriers formed by the laid-in yarn 12while the other two sides,i.e. the ends, are formed by the drawing together of the two layers offabric at the wales where the interlocked stitches 9 are present. Thusthere is depth at all times to the air space between the two layers andyet the layers are held in compact relation at all times.

It will be observed that the present invention provides defined multipleair pockets which can be located in all areas of the garment withoutintroduction of any blanket type structure or loss of flexibility or ofstretchability.

What is claimed is:

1. A knitted undergarment having two independent layers of knittedfabric interlocked by their own yarn but only at spacedwales andspacedcourses, in which. bulky stretchable yarn is laid but only in courseswidely spaced, this bulky yarn beingpresent only at eachcoursewise edgeof each space which it is desired to form into an air pocket, therebydefining the coursewise sides of the pockets, the laid-in yarn holdingthe layers apart the maximum distance permitted by the interlockingstitches and the walewise ends of the air pockets consisting of partialclosure of the space between the layers at the wales where theinterlocking stitches are located.

2. A knitted undergarment comprising two layers of knitted fabric unitedonly at spaced wales and courses by stitches of the knitted fabric, incombination with coursewise air barriers spaced at intervalscorresponding to the spacing of the union of the fabrics in the walewisedirection, said barriers comprising laid-in bulky stretchable yarn; andthe wales containing points of union of the fabric tending to restrictthe passage of air in the coursewise direction; whereby definite airpockets are created throughout the garment and added warmth is produced.

3. A knitted undergarment having two layers of knitted fabric united bystitches of the knitted fabric of one layer interlocked in the otherlayer but only at spaced wales and spaced courses, in which defined airpockets are obtained by laying bulky stretchable yarn in the fabric butonly in widely spaced courses; whereby the two layers are held apartwith added air space between the yarns and the interlocked stitches holdthe fabrics togetherin the walewise direction, the defined air pocketsthus formed adding to the warmth of the garment.

4. A knitted flexible undergarment having two independent layers ofknitted fabric connected only at spaced wales and courses byinterlocking stitches made of yarn from the layers, theseinterlockingstitches being spaced apart walewise and coursewise but spaced fewerwales than courses, in combination with bulky stretchable yarn laid inthe fabric between the layers in a coursewise direction but not in awalewise direction and only at well spaced intervals, the laid-in yarnforming the coursewise sides of defined air pockets in the undergarment,the interlocking stitches tending to draw the layers together at thewales where those stitches are present compared to the other wales,thereby partially closing the space between the layers at those walesand forming the ends of the air pockets; whereby defined air pockets arecreated and a warm garment is produced.

5. A knitted flexible and stretchable undergarment comprising twoindependent knitted layers of fabric interlocked only at spaced walesand courses by yarn from the knitted layers, the connection being madeby stitches spaced apart walewise and coursewise but spaced fewer walesthan courses, there beingspaced air barriers separating the two layersin a coursewise direction formed of.

bulky stretchable yarn laid in at intervals approximating the walewisespacing of the interlocking stitches, the interlocking stitches tendingto draw the layers together along the wale lines where they are located;whereby a fiexiblestretchable undergarment with defined air pockets iscreated.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS709,734 Bellis Sept. 23, 1902 853,667 Williams May 14, 1907 853,668Williams May 14, 1907 1,118,062 Scott Nov. 24, 1914 2,372,497 Johnson etal Mar. 27, 1945

